Diane Sheridan (Pannell)

You might remember li'l tiny Diane Sheridan, running into your knees when she was in a hurry through Sandalwood's halls to get to the Math pod for 1st mod. Well, she's not tiny any more, because her cranium has gotten quite large with becoming a College Professor in Computer Sciences.

You know those IT people (or Info Systems, or whatever they're calling themselves these days) whom you beg for mercy when you have a computer emergency while your PC's about to send out erotic e-mail messages to everybody in the office? And then they type in about 10 keystrokes, thereby giving you that sneer implying "you should've known how to do this"? Well, Diane TEACHES those folks! (well, maybe not the sneer…) The former Vice-President of the Sophomore Class now holds a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems and is a College Professor in Nevada.

It truly is amazing what Dr. Pannell has been able to accomplish. Because Diane hasn't been able to make it to reunions largely due to her overachieving lifestyle, I thought it would be interesting to chronicle her pursuits and pathways.

So how does one get from the pod-lands of Sandalwood to become a College Professor? Well, just like any overachiever, her climb to the top takes us through various journeys of which we could only dream.

After graduating from high school, Diane hung up her flute from band and concentrated on the technological arts instead. She actually started college at the University of South Carolina, but when her family moved, she transferred to Southwest Missouri State University and graduated with
a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management during May of 1984.

Diane then took her first job at a high-tech firm in Kansas City named Tallgrass Technologies. After two years though, she realized that the lucrative rewards of high technology were not fulfilling enough. The part of the job she enjoyed the most was the training side of the business.

Diane decided to go back to school in 1986 and returned to Southwest Missouri State University, thereby completing her Master of Science degree in Business Education during June of 1988. This is not only where she obtained her M.S. degree, but also picked up her MRS in the process. She met her husband Steve Pannell in a Business Communications class, and they were married in June of 1988.

Diane went back into industry as a System Design Consultant and Software Trainer for Entre' Computer Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and then as a Microcomputer Specialist for the City of Chandler, Arizona. From there, she launched her academic career as a full-time Instructor at Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania. She and Steve are both teachers, advancing their own education for a few years (see below) and then searching for the perfect combination of job and location. They found it in 1995 and moved to Las Vegas to teach at the Community College of Southern Nevada.

But wait, there's more… If you knew Diane, she's not one to accomplish a task only halfway. Since moving to Las Vegas, Diane decided to go for it all by striving for her Doctorate degree.To fulfill a prophecy that has been known to man since antediluvian times ("the geek shall inherit the earth", or something like that), Diane started doctoral work at the University of Phoenix in 2001 and then transferred to Kennedy-Western University, successfully completing her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Management Information Systems during May of 2004. There were actually several rungs on the ladder including post-graduate work in Rochester Institute of Technology 1993, Purdue University 1994, and Naval Postgraduate School 2003. (And, yes, Diane kept U-Haul stocks up in the market during the past 10-15 years.)

Dr. Diane is currently a Professor in the Computer Information Technology Department at the Community College of Southern Nevada. To boot (ouch, that pun hurt…), she now also serves as Interim Dean in the Division of Information Technology & Telecommunications (Diane, you don't train telemarketers too, do you?). In 1998, she reached the pinnacle by receiving the Outstanding Faculty Award from the University and Community College System of Nevada Board of Regents.

Diane and her husband enjoy the weather in Nevada, and they are currently working for one of the largest community colleges in the fastest growing city in the nation. They have one daughter, Ashleigh, who is a sophomore at the University of Nevada - Las Vegas. Interestingly, they have two dogs, Skooter and Dozer --- one of who is famous for having his own website (www.dozer.pannell.com) and inspired a book on computer literacy.

Several books and computer programs later, Dr. Diane has certainly achieved the best of what Sandalwood can offer (and we're not talking beaches and football). So the next time you see Diane Sheridan in a Reunion, you can certainly pick her out as the petite lady with the cranium out of proportion.